SpongeBob SquarePants
SpongeBob SquarePants is an American animated television series created by marine biologist and animator Stephen Hillenburg. The series chronicles the adventures and endeavors of the title character and his various friends in the fictional underwater city of Bikini Bottom. The series' popularity has made it a media franchise, as well as the highest rated series to ever air on Nickelodeon, and the most distributed property of MTV Networks. The media franchise has generated $8 billion in merchandising revenue for Nickelodeon.Bauder, David (August 14, 2009). "SpongeBob Turns 10 Valued At $8 Billion". Huffington Post. Many of the ideas for the series originated in an unpublished, educational comic book titled The Intertidal Zone, which Hillenburg created in 1989.https://casetext.com/case/walker-v-viacom-international He began developing SpongeBob SquarePants into a television series in 1996 upon the cancellation of Rocko's Modern Life, and turned to Tom Kenny, who had worked with him on that series, to voice the titular character. SpongeBob was originally going to be named SpongeBoy, and the series was to be called SpongeBoy Ahoy!, but these were changed, as the name was already trademarked. Nickelodeon held a preview for the series in the United States on May 1, 1999, following the television airing of the 1999 Kids' Choice Awards. The series officially premiered on July 17, 1999. It has received worldwide critical acclaim since its premiere and gained enormous popularity by its second season. A feature film, The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie, was released in theaters on November 19, 2004, and a sequel was released on February 6, 2015. SpongeBob SquarePants is the most longest running Nickelodeon show. In 2012, the episode "Squiditis" was episode 173a, making SpongeBob surpass the former holder, Rugrats, which consisted of 172 episodes. On July 21, 2012, the series was renewed and aired its ninth season, beginning with the episode "Extreme Spots". The series has won a variety of different awards, including six Annie Awards, eight Golden Reel Awards, two Emmy Awards, 12 Kids' Choice Awards, and two BAFTA Children's Awards. Despite its widespread popularity, the series has been involved in several public controversies, including one centered on speculation over SpongeBob's intended sexual orientation. In 2011, a newly described species of mushroom, Spongiforma squarepantsii, was named after the cartoon's title character. Premise Characters Main article: List of SpongeBob SquarePants characters The series revolves around its title character and his various friends. SpongeBob SquarePants is an energetic and optimistic sea sponge (although his appearance more closely resembles a kitchen sponge) who lives in a sea pineapple and loves his job as a fry cook at the Krusty Krab. He has a pet snail, Gary, who meows like a cat. Living two houses down from SpongeBob is his best friend Patrick Star, a dim-witted yet friendly pink starfish who lives under a rock. Despite his "mental setbacks", Patrick still sees himself as intelligent.Writers: Luke Brookshier, Tom King, Dani Michaeli (October 6, 2006). "Squidtastic Voyage". SpongeBob SquarePants. Season 4. Episode 75a. Nickelodeon. Squidward Tentacles is SpongeBob's next-door neighbor and co-worker at the Krusty Krab.Brown, Arthur (2008). Everything I Need to Know, I Learned from Cartoons!. USA: Arthur Brown. p. 85. Squidward is an arrogant and ill-tempered octopus who lives in an Easter Island moai and dislikes his neighbors (especially SpongeBob) for their childlike behavior. He enjoys playing the clarinet and painting self-portraits, but hates his job as a cashier. Another close friend of SpongeBob is Sandy Cheeks, a squirrel from Texas.Writers: Sherm Cohen, Vincent Waller, David Fain (March 22, 2000). "Texas". SpongeBob SquarePants. Season 1. Episode 18a. Nickelodeon. She is a scientist and an expert in karate.Writers: Luke Brookshier, Tom King, Steven Banks (May 5, 2006). "Chimps Ahoy". SpongeBob SquarePants. Season 4. Episode 70b. Nickelodeon.Writers: Aaron Springer, Erik Wiese, Merriwether Williams (December 31, 1999). "Karate Choppers". SpongeBob SquarePants. Season 1. Episode 14b. Nickelodeon. She lives in an underwater tree dome (a tree Sandy brought with her that is entrapped in a clear glass dome locked by a tight, hand-turned seal). When outside of her dwelling, she wears an astronaut-like suit because she can't breathe underwater. Mr. Krabs, a miserly crab obsessed with money, is the owner of the Krusty Krab restaurant and SpongeBob's boss. His rival, Plankton, is a small green copepod who owns a low-rank fast-food restaurant called the Chum Bucket, located across the street from the Krusty Krab. Plankton spends most of his time planning to steal the secret recipe for Mr. Krabs' popular Krabby Patty burgers, so as to gain the upper hand and put the Krusty Krab out of business. Other recurring characters appear throughout the series, such as SpongeBob's ever-suffering driving teacher Mrs. Puff; Mr. Krabs' whiney teenage whale daughter Pearl; Plankton's intelligent yet sarcasticly sassy computer wife Karen; the muscular lifeguard of Goo Lagoon, Larry the Lobster; a pirate specter known as The Flying Dutchman; and retired superheroes Mermaid Man and Barnacle Boy, who are idolized by SpongeBob and Patrick. The series predominantly takes place in the underwater city of Bikini Bottom which, according to some third-party sources, is located in the Pacific Ocean beneath the real life coral reef Bikini Atoll."THE HYPE SOAKING IT UP' SPONGEBOB' ACTOR LOVES THE ATTENTION". Daily News. Los Angeles, CA. 8 March 2001.QSR Staff (June 7, 2001). "Burger King SpongeBob SquarePants". QSR Magazone. The citizens live in mostly aquatic-themed buildings and use "boatmobiles", amalgamations of cars and boats, as a mode of transportation. Recurring establishments present in Bikini Bottom include two competing restaurants, the Krusty Krab and the Chum Bucket; Mrs. Puff's Boating School; and Shady Shoals Rest Home. Goo Lagoon, a popular beach hangout, is within the vicinity of the city, as is Jellyfish Fields. There are also a few episodes with businesses such as the grocery store, joke store, and mattress store. When the crew began production on the pilot, they were tasked with designing the stock locations where "...the show would return to again and again, and in which most of the action would take place, such as the Krusty Krab and SpongeBob's pineapple house".Pittenger, Kenny (2010). "The Oral History of SpongeBob SquarePants". Hogan's Alley #17 (Bull Moose Publishing Corporation). The idea for the series was "to keep everything nautical", so the crew used a great amount of rope, wooden planks, ships' wheels, netting, anchors, boilerplates, and rivets in creating the show's setting. Bubbles filing up the screen is also a nautical technique used to transition from scene to scene. The series features "sky flowers" as a main setting material. They first appeared in the pilot and have since become a common feature throughout the series. When series background designer Kenny Pittenger was asked what they were, he answered, "They function as clouds in a way, but since the show takes place underwater, they aren't really clouds". Since the series was influenced by tiki, the background painters have to use a lot of pattern. Pittenger said that the sky flowers were meant to "evoke the look of a flower-print Hawaiian shirt". Episodes Main article: List of SpongeBob SquarePants episodes Notes *In 1997, a clip was shown featuring a unique opening with the title card music of "Hall Monitor," this may have been to be the opening before the SpongeBob SquarePants opening theme was written. Errors *From the second season onwards, this show is completely out of original broadcast order. 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